Uganda: New Technology Targeting Kony Made

LRA’s activities caused untold suffering in Northern Uganda for the last 20 years.

Information about the heinous acts is made available through a digital map, a breaking newsfeed, regular data-analysis reports, and a mobile application-all of which can be found at LRACrisisTrack.com.

LRA Crisis Tracker was developed in partnership with technology agency Digitaria. The result is a tool that combines data with stories and eye-catching visuals.

Backed by various impeccable sources, the project immediately becomes the most accurate source of public information on the LRA in existence, according to a statement issued Thursday.

Officials are optimistic that the tool’s introduction will result in improved efforts to combat the outfit’s savagery and help communities in need.

“Our successful effort to install an early warning radio network in remote Congo communities was the first step towards filling the void of timely and accurate information about the LRA’s movements,” said Invisible Children’s Chief Executive Officer Ben Keesey.

“Technology is a game-changer in the battle to bring justice to war criminals. “It levels the playing field by empowering the individual, and Invisible Children and Resolve will continue to pursue these technological developments toward greater civilian protection and lasting peace.”

The tool was developed in response to what is now known as the Makombo Massacre. In December of 2009, under the command of ICC-indicted war criminal Joseph Kony, the LRA killed 321 civilians in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Despite the incredible scale and brutality of the violence, the international community did not learn of the massacre until March 2010-three months later.

And currently, the organizations argue, currently, four out of five incidents of violence go unreported for months.

Responsible for Africa’s longest-running armed conflict, the brutal outfit has murdered and mutilated innocent civilians for more than two decades, across four countries.

Their self-appointed messiah, Joseph Kony, uses fear and psychological manipulation to control the regime. The key to the LRA’s continued survival has been the kidnapping of children who are conscripted into their ranks, a number that has reached over 30,000 according to UN reports.

Northern Uganda suffered for years owing to LRA’s mayhem. Thousands of people were killed, maimed and many more forcefully conscripted.

A sustained military onslaught pushed him to DRC four years ago. He is said to have moved further to Central African Republic where he notoriety spread.

Resolve executive director, Michael Poffenberger stated, “Not only is this a pioneering tool for activists and policymakers, but community-run protection organizations in Central Africa will directly benefit from regular reports analyzing LRA movement and attack patterns. The response time to LRA atrocities should be three hours, not three months.”

“As the Arab Spring has shown convincingly, technology can be used as a revolutionary springboard for social change,” said Digitaria’s Chief Technology Officer Chuck Phillips. “But Twitter and Facebook were intended as social tools and adapted as a force for social change. The Crisis Tracker is intended to put a scare into the bad guys from day one.”